Streetcar Sunday - Denver, Colorado

Denver  had horse-drawn streetcars in 1871. It was also one of the few cities that tried cable cars before converting to electric streetcars. Five cable car lines were built in 1888 and 1889, but since there were no major grades in Denver, they were soon replaced with the more efficient electric-powered streetcars.

 The College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Colorado has put together a nice website with information on Denver's streetcar history and new streetcar developments, so rather than repeat the information, I would refer you to their site.

Here are the backs of the cards in the same order.

The message to Mrs. M. Handrick of Binghamton reads:

Dear Mother: Your welcome letter just rec'd - Mine giving all information must have reached you ere this. Wrote soon as I found out. The Elks are here, going to parade now. Snow on streets here for the event brought from mts. - Love Bess 

July 15

Central City, Colorado

Central City was a gold-rush town, founded in 1859, the same year a gold-bearing vein was found in Gregory Gulch. The town's population quickly grew from 598 in 1860 to 2,360 in 1870.  Many Chinese lived and worked in Central City during the gold rush, but most returned to China afterward.  The population peaked in 1900 at 3,114, and then diminished rapidly after that as the gold was exhausted. In 1980, the population of Central City was only 329.

There are still some historic buildings in Central City, such as the Central City Opera House, which once hosted Buffalo Bill and Lillian Gish.  If you'd like to read more about Central City and its history, visit the Legends of America website.

The architect who steals my covers visited Central City in the 1980s. He said it was a beautiful place, albeit a ghost town. Gambling was introduced in the 1990s, bringing with it a lot of ugliness, including tour buses, traffic jams, and a four-lane parkway to transport gamblers from the Interstate. Tragically, the building height limitations on undeveloped land have also been eliminated, presumably to encourage the development of more casinos.  Previously the limitation was 53 feet, so as not to overshadow the quality of the historic town.

Here's another card, probably from the 1940s:

The back of the first card, the real-photo card, is very light, but the EKC on the stamp box indicates it was printed sometime between 1930 and 1950.

The Colorado Spring House

This is a spot along what used to be known as The Lariat Mountain Trail, a road which led from Golden, Colorado to Lookout Mountain. Building the road was quite a feat, because it included lots of curves and hairpin turns over the 4.6 miles and 2,000 feet rise in elevation. It was completed in 1914.

There were other shelters along the road, but somehow this one, which no longer exists, was widely featured on postcards and in brochures. 

 This is one of the other shelters that is still there:

Buffalo Bill Cody was buried in Lookout Mountain Park in 1917.  His funeral procession included 20,000 people, driving, on horseback, and walking the Lariat Mountain Trail.

If you would like to know more about the Lariat Trail, now known as Lookout Mountain Road, check out this fine website.

Streetcar Sunday - The Cherrelyn Horse Car

 The famous Cherrelyn streetcar started service in 1892 in the Denver, Colorado area, providing service between Englewood and Littleton. The horse would pull the car uphill, and on the return trip the horse was loaded onto the back of the car and the car proceeded down the hill powered by gravity. The fare was 5 cents. The Cherrelyn horse car ran until 1910 when it was replaced by electric cars, but the old one is still on display in Englewood.

There is a story (probably apocryphal) that the retired horses from the Cherrelyn  horse car were sold to farmers, who had no trouble getting the horses to pull a plow uphill, but a lot of trouble convincing them to pull it downhill.

The Cherrelyn horse car became an early tourist attraction and sold a lot of postcards.

Fitzsimmons General Hospital

Oh, excuse me, I'm quite sure I requested a private room!

Here's an old postcard  from the Fitzsimmons General Hospital in Aurora, Colorado. This is a place where you could come to get over your illness and, at the same time, any personal privacy issues (no extra charge.) At least you won't be lonely.